Ting wants more matriculation places for Chinese students from Sarawak, Sabah
MIRI: The Ministry of Education should allocate more places in matriculation colleges to deserving Chinese students from low-income families from Sarawak and Sabah. SUPP secretary- general Datuk Sebastian Ting Chew Yew, who is Piasau assemblyman, made this call following the creation of additional 1,000 places in matriculation programmes for Chinese students by Ministry of Education as announced yesterday,
He was asked to comment on the announcement by Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik as reported by Free Malaysia Today news portal.
Ting welcomed the announcement as good news and thanked the minister for creating additional places for the deserving applicants.
“Matriculation is always a situation where we don’t have enough ( places) and I hope that the ministry will allocate the appropriate number as we want more for us in Sarawak and Sabah,” he said.
Maszlee said the places for the 2018/2019 session will be offered to those who achieved excellent results in the SPM examination and the ministry had received a total of 84,891 applications, including 20,040 applications from non-Bumiputera students.
A total of 4,068 non-Bumiputera students have been offered a place in the matriculation colleges which Maszlee said is part of government’s efforts to help all students to pursue their education, especially those from lower-income families.
Meanwhile, Ting extended his invitation to the newly-minted Education Minister to visit Miri during his future visit to Sarawak.
The minister was also reported as saying that he was looking into a recent incident where an individual masquerading as his senior private secretary had contacted the Miri District Education Office asking for information on schools requiring maintenance work.
Ting said it was alleged that the Education Minister would make a direct appointment of the contractor for the maintenance work.
Maszlee said he was taking a serious view of the matter as it was an attempt to use his name for personal gain.